[Leica] IMG: La Vuelta in Jijona

[Douglas Barry]

Definitely you are missing something, Jayanand, but I think interest in 
cycling is fostered by actually doing it, or having some connection to 
it through either a family hero or a local or national hero. I had 
little interest in it until I (a reasonable runner at the time) was 
persuaded in 1983 to do a charity triathlon for the Irish Cancer Society 
which involved a swim in the west of Ireland, a cycle across Ireland to 
Dublin and then the Dublin City Marathon. It seemed a reasonable 
undertaking, as I had swum competitively, run competitively, and sure 
hadn't I cycled a fair bit as a kid, so no real problem then?

I soon found out that running, no matter how quick I was normally, was a 
totally different issue after a hard cycle: my legs were like jelly 
after getting off the bike, and the only solution is like most things - 
practice and better equipment (think photography). Bikes are as 
addictive as cameras (and probably heroin, but I haven't tried it) so 
you now know what I mean. There is nothing as seductive as a nice piece 
of equipment in your hands - or between your legs. I'm a fan of cycling 
ever since, and have several bikes.

So going out in the baking heat to watch your heroes is perfectly 
logical to me, just like I'd go out to see Martin Parr, Steve McCurry, 
Salgado, etc if they were doing a shoot in Dublin. I might even cycle.

Douglas


On 22/08/2021 03:43, Jayanand Govindaraj via LUG wrote:
> Nice. I was watching this yesterday on cable (yes, we get it, live), while
> waiting for a PL football game to start, and I was wondering why people
> spend a few hours baking in the sun to see their heroes flash by. The whole
> spectacle seems to be over in 30 seconds. I admit I do not understand much
> about these long distance, week/month long cycling races, so am I missing
> something?
>
> Cheers
> Jayanand
>
> On Sat, Aug 21, 2021 at 6:36 PM Nathan Wajsman <photo at frozenlight.eu> wrote:
>
>> The Vuelta a España bicycle race started last weekend. After a series of
>> relatively flat stages, yesterday things got serious. Stage 7 contained six
>> mountain passes over 152 km, finishing in the mountains near Tibi, one of
>> my cycling destinations. So I took the afternoon off to go and see the
>> race. I planned to cycle to Tibi and catch the Vuelta at the top of the
>> penultimate mountain pass of the stage. But the climb to Tibi is very
>> tough, and inland temperatures were going to hit 40C during the afternoon.
>> Driving was not an option (you go to see a bicycle race on a bicycle, or
>> else you stay home and watch on TV). So instead, I cycled to Jijona, about
>> 24 km away, and found a great spot with shade, shared with a nice local
>> family. It was on a steep uphill, so the speed of the cyclists would be
>> moderate (all relatively speaking, of course), and at that point the
>> cyclists would have 120-125 km and four passes in their legs, so I knew the
>> peleton would be nicely spread out, and it would take 20-30 minutes for
>> everyone to pass. And so it was.
>>
>> What I like about cycling from a spectator’s point of view is that in no
>> other professional sport can you get so close to the competitors. I could
>> have touched the cyclists if I had wanted to. But I settled for photos, and
>> a small gallery of 29 images is now uploaded. Some of the images are not
>> technically perfect but I included them anyway because they show the effort
>> and suffering of the cyclists. Where I could identify the cyclists, I have
>> done so in the captions. It’s all here:
>>
>> https://www.greatpix.eu/La-Vuelta-in-Jijona/ <
>> https://www.greatpix.eu/La-Vuelta-in-Jijona/>
>>
>> As always, comments and critique are welcome and appreciated.
>>
>> Nathan
>>
>> Nathan Wajsman
>>
>> Alicante, Spain
>> http://www.frozenlight.eu <http://www.frozenlight.eu/>
>> http:// <http://www.greatpix.eu/>www.greatpix.eu
>> PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws <
>> http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws>Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/ <
>> http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/>
>>
>> Cycling: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator <
>> http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator>
>>
>> YNWA
>>
>> "I’m not arguing, I’m just explaining why I’m right"
>>
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